Truth be known, the Third Saturday in October which is what the football rivalry between Alabama and Tennessee has always been called, is a rather streaky rivalry game.
Right now, Alabama has won 11 in a row. Between 1995 and 2001, Tennessee won 7 in a row. Before that, Alabama won 7 in a row. Back and forth it goes, and right now Alabama is on top and expect the streak to top 12 this year and continue on for a while. Alabama leads the all time series 55-38-7 and with Alabama’s current talent it could go on for years.
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In the 1967 college football season, the Crimson Tide was also in the middle of dominating the series. With Bear Bryant coaching Alabama, the Tide had owned the early 1960s and other than one tie, they had 6 wins in a row.
Chances for the Tennessee Volunteers to break Alabama’s winning streak did not look good because
their starting quarterback, Dewey Warren nicknamed the Swamp Rat, was out with an injury.
Back up quarterback Charlie Fulton was also injured and out for this game. The Vols were down to third string quarterback Bubba Wyche.
Wyche is not the most common of names and if you are thinking he might be related to the former head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, Sam Wyche, you would be correct.
Tennessee had some young talent in 1967. Sophomore linebackers Jack Reynolds and Steve Kiner were legends and safety Mike Jones was one of the highest rated recruits in the country. But, even with the youth, the heart and soul of this team had to have been the offensive line. Led by two time All American senior center Bob Johnson and 3 other seniors in Joe Graham, John Boynton and Elliott Gamage, plus junior Charles Rosenfelder the offensive line was the strength of the 1967 team. They were something of a well oiled machine and worked well together as senior laden offensive lines often tend to do.
The Volunteers came in ranked 7th in the nation. After losing to UCLA in Los Angeles in their opener, the Vols bounced back to beat Auburn and Georgia Tech. They were 2-1 on the season and about to face another huge challenge and it had been a while since they had beaten Alabama.
Down in Tuscaloosa, the Alabama Crimson Tide was ranked 6th in the polls. Led by quarterback Ken Stabler who went on to win a Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders, and All American wide receiver Dennis Homan, the Tide came in with a 3-0-1 record. They tied a surprisingly good Florida State team in game one, 37-37. But, then, they beat Southern Miss, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
Besides, Bear Bryant was their coach, not a lot else needs to be said. A Bear Bryant team was going to be well coached and disciplined.
On October 21st, 1967 the two ranked teams met at legendary Legion Field in Birmingham,
Alabama. The Crimson Tide played a lot of home games there back then.
Recently, we stayed in Birmingham and my lovely wife asked what I wanted to do. Of course, I said to see Legion Field where Bear Bryant coached. A security guard let us in and led us out by the field to look around. I was in awe. All I could think of was ‘the Bear was here, and so was John McKay of USC and so many other legends of the game like Bo Jackson and Joe Namath.’ What a rush that was for this hardcore football fan.
Nobody much plays there anymore other than the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In days of yore, the Iron Bowl was played there every season and a lot of the Alabama home games.
The superior Tennessee offensive line took over the game almost immediately and the Vols drove down the field, slowly and methodically for a touchdown.
Helped by a bad punt ,and a pass interference call, Alabama came back to tie the game, 7-7, in the first quarter.
Fighting back, the Tennessee Volunteers took the ball and drove it down the field before they fumbled on the Alabama 11 yard line.
I wasn’t there for this game, but I can tell you that Alabama fans were not happy with Kenny Stabler. Their star quarterback threw 5 interceptions that day. Otherwise, the team played well enough that day to keep the streak going in Alabama’s favor.
Volunteer defensive back Jimmy Weatherford picked off Stabler in the second quarter, and Mike Jones grabbed another errant Stabler pass in the third quarter which led to a 17-7 Tennessee led.
Another Volunteer defensive back, Albert Dorsey, used this game to make All SEC with 3
interceptions which all came during the fourth quarter.
Previously, the Crimson Tide had the Vols backed up inside their own 5 yard line and inside his own end zone, the back up quarterback Bubba Wyche threw his own interception to Alabama defensive back Mike Dean. With Dean’s return to the Tennessee 16 yard line, Alabama punched the ball into the end zone to close the gap to 13-17.
Albert Dorsey’s third and final interception he returned for a touchdown to basically put the game away.
When the final buzzer sounded at old Legion Field, the Volunteers walked away with an impressive 24-13 win over the Crimson Tide. The game was huge in that it broke the Alabama winning streak, but it also put the Volunteers in the SEC drivers seat.
After they beat Alabama, the Vols climbed to the 4th spot in the polls. After beating LSU and Tampa, the Volunteers were then ranked 2nd in the country.
The USC Trojans won the national championship that season, but Tennessee finished second in spite of losing to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
After the 1967 game, the rivalry game turned back over to the Vols for a while. They won 4 straight games before Alabama took back over and won 11 straight games using their new Wishbone offense.